PEG tubes are known and used in the art. PEG tubes are used to provide nutrition to patients who are unable to swallow, or are otherwise unable to receive food by normal bodily processes due to disease or injury. PEG tubes may be positioned within the stomach, or they may be positioned within the intestine.
Two predominant methods for positioning PEG tubes are the Ponsky-Gauderer ‘pull’ technique and the Sachs-Vine ‘push’ technique. The pull and push techniques differ only in the method of insertion of the gastrostomy tube. In the pull technique, the proximal portion of the tube is pulled through the mouth, esophagus, stomach and abdominal wall; whereas, during the push technique the tube is pushed over a guide wire.
Currently, the device that is used for the push method differs from the device that is used for the pull method. Since the method is a matter of physician preference and training1, hospitals keep a supply of each of the devices in inventory. This necessity represents an inventory expense to the hospital, and the administrative burden of tracking inventory. 1 These techniques have been shown to be substantially equivalent in safety and insertion success rates
In particular, the device that is used for the pull technique has a wire loop formed on one end that enables the PEG tube to be connected to an insertion wire and pulled through the mouth and esophagus, and into the stomach. The device that is used for the push technique has no such wire loop; rather, the insertion wire is inserted into the orifice in the tube, through an opening at the proximal end of the tube, and the tube is pushed along the wire, which acts as a guide, until the tube is in position.